NEW YORK — As you prepare to head to what should be a full Yankees
Stadium this afternoon, just think: You would be going to watch Rutgers face
TCU if the Horned Frogs had won two more games to earn the Big 12 Conference's
spot in the Pinstripe Bowl. Or, if bowl executives determined they'd rather the
8-4 Houston team that crushed Rutgers two months ago, the Scarlet Knights would
be preparing for a matchup with Vanderbilt in the BBVA Compass Bowl in
Birmingham, Ala., on Jan. 4.

But no, for the first time in what seems like forever, things
broke Rutgers' way. By beating a frostbitten South Florida team in the regular
season finale, Rutgers secured a marquee matchup with a Notre Dame squad that
played in the National Championship Game last year. The Irish will drive
viewers to ESPN simply by donning their glistening gold helmets.

It's exactly the stage Rutgers needs. But getting to the bowl
by winning six games against weak opponents isn't going to turn any heads. The way for Rutgers to erase the avalanche of negativity that has buried the
program is to win the game.

"That would be a huge win," sophomore defensive tackle
Darius Hamilton said. "Just to jump-start next year and jump-start where
Rutgers is going and how hard we've been training. It would just open the eyes
of not just these younger guys, but recruits and everything around the
country."

Ahh, the recruits. Everything always comes back to
recruiting. The black cloud that has hovered over the program for the past two
months has probably had the biggest impact on the (potential) future Scarlet
Knights.

"I think winning always helps
recruiting," coach Kyle Flood said. "I think once you turn the page on the
season, you've turned the page. The team will be different and the offseason
will be different because the team is different. Winning, whether it's in the
regular season or the bowl season, winning never hurts your program and winning
always helps recruiting."

Flood has tried to downplay the
carryover effect from this game to the team's move to the Big Ten next season,
but it's impossible to ignore. Notre Dame plays like a Big Ten team. And it's
a national program, just like Michigan, Ohio State and the other powerhouses that
will be on the schedule going forward.

"I've never seen winning hurt your opportunities and
chances, particularly against a team that definitely plays on Broadway,"
offensive coordinator Ron Prince said of Notre Dame. "That's obviously the kind
of team that we aspire to be – a national brand. I think these kinds of games
give you an opportunity to do that. I think it's obvious that being in the Big
Ten and going forward, most people, including ourselves, will try to see this
as an opportunity to show what we can do."

It's an opportunity that wouldn't have been provided by the seventh-best
team from the Big 12 or the ninth-best team from the SEC. But Notre Dame is
different. With a win today, things will be different for Rutgers, too.